NGD - Epiphone Les Paul Custom Joe Bonamassa Black Beauty

[rjwilson37]

I received my new guitar, and it is beautiful. I got it from Sweetwater and I didn't have much time to play with it when it arrived today. The short amount of time I did get with it, is that it will still need new strings and a setup to my liking. It was just setup ok from Sweetwater. Although... it was on a truck all day out in the 90 degree weather. Maybe it just needs to settle down in normal temps for a day. I will mess with it more when I return on Saturday.

 

[redcoats1976]

lookin good...

 

[dc007]

I like it!!!

 

[DrBGood]

S E X Y !

 

[LocoTex]

Shiny!

 

[jstarr823]

Finally! A properly sized diamond. Nice!

 

[Standard 64]

Nice.Is the neck 50's style(Huge?)

 

[christopherJ]

One day and a wake up until mine gets here. Glad to see the headstock inlay doesn’t run under the truss rod cover.

 

[sibyrpunk]

Time to get your Frampton on!

 

[shupe13]

Nice!

 

[musicmaniac]

Sweet congrats!

 

[rjwilson37]

Thanks Everyone!

It feels pretty good and the neck is not a baseball bat, I would say it is like a medium C neck.

 

[DeafDumbBlind Kid]

Thanks Everyone!

It feels pretty good and the neck is not a baseball bat, I would say it is like a medium C neck.

That's a really good description. I just got done playing with mine and am pretty much in awe. This is as nice a neck as any non Custom Shop Les Paul style guitar that I've played. I once played an SG with a neck like this that had zero neck dive and didn't grab it (I probably couldn't and I've never seen one like it since except for a lefty Historic, of all things.)

 

[rjwilson37]

Ok, after the string change, oiling of the fretboard and some minor adjustments she was ready to go. After sitting for a couple of days after travel, the setup was not bad and just needed a couple tweaks. The intonation from Sweetwater was spot on, love it. I went back and forth between my Gibson Custom and this Epiphone Custom BB and they feel great, very close to each other. The Gibsons action is a little bit lower, maybe a little lower than I like it so it was a little smoother to play. I will have to take my Epiphone to my Tech to get it a little bit lower, not as low as the Gibson, and just give it an overall professional setup since I now know I am keeping this bad girl. They both sound very close to one another even though the Gibson Custom has 490R neck and 498T bridge. Here is a quick clip I put together just so you could here them side by side so to speak.

http://www.rj-zero.com/misc/guitars/soundclips/epigibsoncompare.mp4

 

[JayPDizzle]

Ok, after the string change, oiling of the fretboard and some minor adjustments she was ready to go. After sitting for a couple of days after travel, the setup was not bad and just needed a couple tweaks. The intonation from Sweetwater was spot on, love it. I went back and forth between my Gibson Custom and this Epiphone Custom BB and they feel great, very close to each other. The Gibsons action is a little bit lower, maybe a little lower than I like it so it was a little smoother to play. I will have to take my Epiphone to my Tech to get it a little bit lower, not as low as the Gibson, and just give it an overall professional setup since I now know I am keeping this bad girl. They both sound very close to one another even thought the Gibson Custom has 490R neck and 498T bridge. Here is a quick clip I put together just so you could here them side by side so to speak.

http://www.rj-zero.com/misc/guitars/soundclips/epigibsoncompare.mp4

Thanks for this demo, they both sound great! Really excited for mine. It's due start of next month.

 

[rjwilson37]

You're going to love it, they feel/play and sound as good as a Gibson Custom. My Gibson Custom has a richlite fretboard and the Epiphone Custom has an ebony fretboard, but they both feel pretty much the same to me. Going back and forth, both necks are very similar, a medium C neck with a smooth easy playing feel to them.

I do have some Hipshot GripLock tuners coming tomorrow, because I think the tuners on these are just ok. I did pick up the Epiphone Custom today and it was still perfectly in tune and I did not have to adjust a thing. But... I want the gold keystone type tuners to match the rest of the guitar as well as of course having locking tuners is a plus.

 

[Sp8ctre]

You're going to love it, they feel/play and sound as good as a Gibson Custom. My Gibson Custom has a richlite fretboard and the Epiphone Custom has an ebony fretboard, but they both feel pretty much the same to me. Going back and forth, both necks are very similar, a medium C neck with a smooth easy playing feel to them.

I do have some Hipshot GripLock tuners coming tomorrow, because I think the tuners on these are just ok. I did pick up the Epiphone Custom today and it was still perfectly in tune and I did not have to adjust a thing. But... I want the gold keystone type tuners to match the rest of the guitar as well as of course having locking tuners is a plus.

Fantastic Guitar! I picked up one myself and immediately installed some Gold Hipshot Tuners. Big improvement for me because I must have locking tuners...

 

[cerasgrgag]

Put a deposit on one here in the UK. Some places already sold out and not even arrived yet. Will this be worth $100,000 in 50 years?

 

[Sp8ctre]

Take a look at this from Sweetwater. In my years of buying there this usually means they are never getting them back in stock. If this is true I believe this is a very limited edition...only time will tell. I'm glad I got one!

 

[DeafDumbBlind Kid]

Take a look at this from Sweetwater. In my years of buying there this usually means they are never getting them back in stock. If this is true I believe this is a very limited edition...only time will tell. I'm glad I got one!

View attachment 495450

I'd be surprised if they tooled up to make them exactly like the ones we just got. That neck profile is unlike anything they make so it was a special run. That was part of the reason why I decided to grab one. A triple pickup custom with an ebony fingerboard and a case for under 800 dollars, for less than 20% of a Gibson Custom shop ... IF you can find one that weighed this much? LOL about the price in 50 years. I sure as hell won't be around to see what they'lll be worth, I highly doubt if I'll live to be 112. If I do, I bet 100K won't be that much money anyway.